Page 50 of Valkyrie Unknown

“I’ve heard rumors.” Her voice was tight, but some of the tension had faded. “I can look into it, but I need time.”

I hated what I was about to do, but I didn’t see another way. The police had seen me, and even ifthiswasn’t about me, I was easier to find now. My staying here didn’t help, and it increased the odds of a bad situation getting worse. “I’m heading to a new town.” I wanted to shout that loudly enough for anyone tracking me to hear.Don’t keep looking for me in Salt Lake. Chase me. Leave these people alone.“I’ll tell you where when I know. If Davyn calls you before I’m settled, tell him I’m safe and I’ll be in touch soon.”

“Okay. Make sure it’s true—that you’re safe,” she said.

“I will.” More importantly, I needed to make sure everyone else was safe.

I hung up and finished the walk to the apartment. Inside, I packed up everything that mattered. We’d acquired too much shit while we were here. Extra clothes. A cheap TV. Furniture.

Too much to travel with. Too much to own. Too many people hurt, possibly because I convinced myself I could settle down.

I needed to talk to Davyn before I left. I grabbed my phone from my back pocket and dialed him again.

“Come on, pick up,” I muttered to the empty room as the line rang in my ear.

Was that a buzzing sound?

No. Heart dropped into my stomach, and I followed the noise. Davyn’s phone sat on his nightstand, screen dim from a battery almost dead. He only kept the phone because I asked him to, so of course he hadn’t taken it with him.

Fuck.

I grabbed the device, then set it on the table again. This was my only way to reach him directly when he came back, but I couldn’t leave him a message, in case someone else got to his phone before he did.

There was a small whiteboard on the fridge, and I scribbled him a quick note.Call the bookstore.

Cryptic to anyone else. To him, it would say that Enid could point him toward me. The actions came without thought—an exit plan I’d rehearsed over and over with Mom, in case I ever had to run without her. Not one I’d needed with Davyn. Not a plan I’d ever thought to talk to him about.

At this moment, with so many unanswered questions, this was something I knew to do when there was trouble.

With a few days of clothes and food in my bag, and my tablet, I gave the apartment one last glance and walked out.

All this chaos, the panic—was this what going after the prophecies did?

Was this all my fault?

Fourteen

Azzie

Spendingforty-eight hours trying to vanish into the woodwork of the hostel I was staying in, while hiding my hair and face under a hat, didn’t make the last two days the longest of my life, but I could’ve stood for them to go by faster.

I hadn’t heard from Davyn.

Enid got confirmation from a contact of hers who dealt in gossip that Iwasthe intended target, and the explosion was the only thing that saved me from being taken out by a sniper.

That didn’t make any sense. Davyn was the only person I knew who would go to extreme measures for me, and he wasn’t ablow things upkind of guy. He was more of atake a bullet for youkind of guy, and I was grateful he hadn’t been around to make that decision.

He knew though that I the idea of other people suffering to save me made me ill. Whoever made that decision on my behalf, they were wrong.

Every time I left my bunk, someone was talking about the news out of Salt Lake. How many people were injured. How one girl’s brother was there, and she couldn’t get a hold of him, and this morning, that there had been another round of gunfire in a nearby hotel. That the FBI and Homeland Security were both involved.

Why was there still gunfire if I was gone? Did the new attack have anything to do with me or was it a coincidence?

The faded flowers—across from me, next to me, behind me—seemed to come out of the wallpaper and press in. The room was smaller than when I arrived. The bunk above mine was nearer to my head, and the second set of bunk beds across the room had moved closer.

I needed to go back to the mess I caused. Or run farther away. To fight or fuck or dosomething.

My phone buzzed.

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